To the Ends of the Universe
by Victoria18Carlton
Summary: Allie Swallow is a simple engineer on the Enterprise, but when she gets mixed up with Khan Noonien Singh and her relationship with Lieutenant Pavel Chekov becomes complicated, Allie's simple life gets turned upside down. Set 9 months after 'Into Darkness' (Chekov/OC)
1. Chapter 1

Allie Swallow was not your typical eighteen year old Brit. She had been accepted into Starfleet at only fourteen, and although this was heard of, it was incredibly rare. Specialising in engineering, she had graduated from the Academy after three years there, and had also succeeded in becoming the second ever cadet to complete the Kobyashi Maru test (and the first to do so without cheating). Now she served aboard the _USS Enterprise_, and had done so for nearly a year now. Despite being the youngest member of the crew she had proven herself to be worthy of her position many times, and had been promoted from crewman to ensign to lieutenant in just a few months. She even served at the engineering station on the bridge for a lot of her time.

Of all the things that had happened to her in recent times, Allie was most grateful for the friends that she had made whilst serving on the _Enterprise_. She had quickly formed a bond with Captain Kirk himself, and he became a sort of mentor to her as well as a friend. He said that this was because he saw great potential in her, but it was more likely that he just wanted to know how she had beaten the Kobyashi Maru. This was classified information though; Starfleet didn't want other cadets to just copy her solution. She had also formed tight friendships with some of her fellow officers, Nyota Uhura and Hikaru Sulu, as well the ship's doctor, McCoy – Allie spent a lot of time in the medical bay, she was very accident prone.

Her best friend, however, was easily Lieutenant Pavel Chekov. They had met when he was temporarily assigned to engineering almost nine months ago, when the _Enterprise_ and her crew faced off against Khan Noonien Singh. Being the two youngest crew members they often felt slightly isolated from everyone else, and they found comfort in each other's company. They made each other laugh, and he had even been trying to teach her some Russian, with varying degrees of success. Allie loved spending time with Pavel more than anything – she felt like she could truly be herself with him. If she was sad, lonely, scared, whatever, she knew that she could go to him and he'd make it all better. She also knew that her feelings for him went far deeper than mere friendship, but she was careful never to voice her feelings. She didn't want to overstep a boundary, or ruin a friendship. Besides, as far as she knew he was still in a seemingly stable relationship with Irina Galliulin, and he had been since before she'd met him. Allie also tried not to voice her feelings about Irina to Pavel, to say that they were not exactly friends was a massive understatement. But she never told him about Irina's true personality, the one that she hid from him. While they were together, it wasn't her place to ruin his happiness, although she'd think less about ruining hers.


	2. Chapter 2

In a Starfleet storage hanger on the outskirts of San Francisco, several cryogenic tubes had failed. Of the original seventy three tubes, fewer than twenty now had living occupants. One of these twenty tubes had been moved to a more secure area of the hanger – its occupant was too dangerous to be woken and too useful to be destroyed. A man was performing a routine maintenance check on the tube. He was alone. He hummed carelessly as he swiped his identity card to give him full access to the systems and performed a diagnostic.  
He pressed the wrong button.  
Fear flooded him as he tried to correct what he'd done. "No, no, no, no, no!" he said as he realised that he was too late.  
The man in the cryogenic tube had already woken up.  
The tube began to open, and rather than run, the maintenance officer stayed and tried to close it. A hand shot out so quickly that he couldn't prevent it from closing around his throat. The last thing that he saw before he died was the eyes of his killer as he sat up in the tube.

When the maintenance officer was dead, the formerly frozen man climbed gracefully out of the tube and surveyed his surroundings. It seemed odd that there were no alarms. Knowing that it was best to leave as soon as possible, he walked out of the hanger, and despite meeting no-one, he knew he didn't have time to look for his crew. Instead, Khan Noonien Singh ran in the direction of San Francisco as fast he could.


	3. Chapter 3

Allie hated formal Starfleet events. For one thing, she had to wear dress uniform, and that mean wearing a skirt and heels. Which just felt unnatural. As if she wasn't accident prone enough. She was used to wearing the traditionally male uniform, flat boots and trousers. Easier to function in, especially when she spent time climbing through Jefferies Tubes. But she didn't complain, she'd complained about it enough times. She walked into the hall and was thankful to see that it was fairly busy. At least she wouldn't be standing around by herself. She spotted Pavel in amongst the well dressed officers and made a beeline for him. "Hi! Are you as uncomfortable here as I am?" she said with a smile.  
"да. I don't ewen see vhy ve have to be here."  
"Ah well, it's a posh Starfleet occasion. Of course the crew of the flagship _have_ to be here!" she replied wittily.  
He chuckled. They sat together, making small talk with a few officers that they recognised, but mostly they kept themselves to themselves. Allie noticed that Pavel wasn't as talkative as usual, but she thought little of it. Nyota, Spock, Hikaru, Scotty and Bones came and sat with them later on, none of them really wanted to be there so they had decided to stick together. Their behaviour all seemed normal – Nyota was trying to persuade Spock to dance, with Hikaru laughing at her continued attempts. Scotty was clearly slightly drunk and Bones was doing what he always did, complaining. Allie saw Jim every so often, who (naturally) spent the majority of the evening flirting with any and every single, pretty girl who might be interested in the famous Captain Kirk.

An hour or two later, after the speeches had concluded – the evening was to commemorate Admiral Michaels as the new head of Starfleet – the crowd began to thin, and Allie was surprised to see Pavel standing in front of her with his hand outstretched. "Care to dance?" he said.  
"Really? You don't normally go in for that sort of thing."  
He smiled weakly, "I thought, 'Vhy not?' Besides, it's better now zat zere are fewer people here."  
She took his hand and he led her into the centre of the room. They weren't alone there; Nyota had finally succeeded in talking Spock into dancing, and there were various others there as well. Allie giggled as Pavel spun her around and led the dance, and he even managed to catch her when she tripped. For a while they just stood together, looking into each others eyes.  
Then she, completely unintentionally, broke the silence. "Why isn't Irina here with you tonight?"  
Pavel looked a little taken aback, and then uncomfortable. "She… uh… vell, actually decided that she didn't vant to be in Starfleet anymore. She left Earth vith a few friends last month."  
Allie couldn't restrain her smile. "Really?!"  
He looked at her, clearly upset by her reaction. He stepped back from her and said, "Zere's no need to sound so happy. I know you didn't like her, but she vas my girlfriend."  
"Well, yeah, I know, but you have to admit it, she was a bit of a bitch."  
"Allie!"  
People had begun to stare at them. Allie took Pavel's arm and led them outside.  
"I'm sorry," she continued, "I didn't mean – "  
He interrupted, "Don't say you didn't mean it, I know you did."  
"Of course I meant it, I just didn't mean to say it." She saw his expression. It was not amused. "Well, she was, and I've wanted to tell you for ages. Whenever it was just the two of us, whenever you weren't there, she was foul to me. I never did anything to her, she just hated me."  
His mood hadn't improved, "I zink you are owerreacting. She was probably just jealous of your intelligence."  
"No, she wasn't. She was just a vile, horrible person and I can't fathom why you ever liked her in the first place!" She didn't know why she was saying these things, but she'd wanted to tell Pavel what Irina was really like for so long now.  
"I vas going to break up vith her for you anyvay!"  
Allie's mouth fell open. Again, they stood staring at each other, but the atmosphere was completely different this time. Neither of them could say anything, all Allie could managed was, "I… I…" before Pavel turned and walked away from her.

She walked back into the hall to find it had filled up again. It was busy when she wanted to be alone. Typical. Sitting back down at an empty table, she contemplated what had just passed between her and Pavel. He was going to break up with Irina. For her. Did that mean that he felt the same way as she did? "I'm confused," she said out loud.  
"About what?" said a voice behind her, startling her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, only you looked lonely and I'm here alone, so I thought I'd come over." The voice belonged to a man who looked in his early thirties, tall, muscular with jet black hair smoothed back. She noted that he had very, very blue eyes. Like her, he was English. "Do you mind if I sit down?"  
"Not at all," she replied. He sat opposite her.  
"What's confusing you then, if you don't mind me asking," he said warmly.  
Allie sighed. "You really don't want to know, it all seems absurdly complicated and stupid."  
"Fair enough. What's your name?"  
"Lieutenant Allie Swallow. You?"  
"Commander John Harrison. Pleased to meet you."  
"Pleased to meet you too." They shook hands. "John Harrison. I'm sure I recognise that name." He looked at her, almost concerned. "Nope, can't remember, never mind. What brings you here then?"  
"I'm… an old friend of Admiral Marcus'. I thought it was only fitting that I saw his replacement. What about you?"  
"I'm part of the _Enterprise _crew. Engineering. I have to be here, despite how much I'd rather leave." She spotted Pavel walk back in, over the other side of the room. She caught his eyes and their gaze held for a few awkward seconds before she looked away. When she looked back at Harrison, she saw that he had moved. She stood up to see where he had gone, and felt a phaser stick into her back.  
"I apologise for this, Lieutenant. It really was nice to meet you, though I'm sure you think quite the opposite now." It was Harrison's voice.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I need you to walk over to where Admiral Michaels is standing, please."  
"What?!"  
"I assume you don't need me to threaten you, although I will if it makes you more comfortable."  
"Why do you need me? If you're going to kill him you could go up to him alone, or just shoot him from across the room."  
"That's true, and although I will kill him, I need some information from him first, and I will offer your life in exchange for it."  
Allie went pale, but she fought not to show Harrison any fear. "Who are you? What information do you want?"  
"You shall see in due time." He walked her over to Admiral Michaels, who was conversing with Captain Kirk and a few other senior officers. On seeing Harrison, Kirk's face filled with horror.  
"Khan!"  
"Khan?" Allie repeated. "I knew I recognised you. John Harrison indeed."  
"That will do for now, Lieutenant," said Khan as he jabbed the phaser into her back. "Yes, Captain. Surprised to see me? I should think so. You should know that I don't intend to harm you, not yet anyway. Nor do I especially want to hurt Lieutenant Swallow here, but I will if I have to. And if any of you try to alert security," he addressed the crowd of people who were now silently watching the group of officers, "I will kill her along with several others among you." He turned to Admiral Michaels, "Now. All I want to know, in exchange for which I wont kill this young lady, is where you are keeping my crew."  
"Your crew?"  
"Yes. Currently you are the only person with access to that information, so, if you please, where are they?"  
"I don't know. Your information is incorrect. The leaders of Section 31 are the only people that know where they are, and nobody knows who the leaders are. Not even me."  
Khan studied his face. Allie spotted Pavel in the crowd, who was being restrained by Bones. She knew, any minute, he was going to break free and come over to them. She also knew that that would get him killed, so she caught his gaze and shook her head, very slightly. She looked back at the Admiral, and she could see that he was telling the truth. Luckily for her, so could Khan. He pushed her to the ground, away from him and walked away from the group. Pavel now came to her and knelt beside her. "Are you alright?" he said, with panic in his voice. She nodded and he hugged her.  
Admiral Michaels breathed a sigh of relief as Khan reached the other side of the hall. Then, suddenly, Khan pivoted and shot the Admiral, killing him instantly. Then he ran out of the doors and disappeared into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

The entire crew of the _Enterprise _was at battle stations. Tracking warp core signatures, they had been able to trace the location of Khan's small ship. Having caught up with him and ordered him to surrender, he had now managed to infiltrate their shields and had beamed aboard the Enterprise. No-one knew where he was, the ships sensors were not able to track him for some unknown reason. To make matters even worse, an ambassador for the government of the Tellian people as well as several dozen rebels were still aboard the ship from their previous mission, they refused to leave the ship for fear that one group would kill the other, and security were having a hard time controlling the rebels and protecting the ambassador. "We need to find him," said Captain Kirk. "He's definitely on the ship?"  
"Aye, sir," replied Scotty, who appeared to have sobered up.  
"And do we have any idea how he got onboard?"  
"Evidently he managed to circumvent our shields, Captain," said Spock, "Although how he managed this remains unclear."  
Kirk replied, "Then, Mr Spock, focus all your efforts on making this clear and finding him. The only place on my ship that I want him is in the brig."  
Scotty piped up. "We have another problem, sir."  
Kirk sighed. "What now?"  
Allie and Scotty looked at one another. "Well, there is a slight possibility that the warp drive may be offline," she said.  
"… A slight possibility?"  
"Meaning that it is offline."  
"In which case I need you both to fix it as soon as physically possible. I don't like being stranded out here with him on the ship and no other ships around us. How long will it take?"  
"A few hours, Captain. Normally I'd rope in a few security officers to help when the engineers are all busy. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that," replied Scotty.  
"We need them all finding Khan and guarding the Tellians. Apparently the rebels have been trying to reach the Ambassador's party, and it's more than any of us are worth to let that happen."  
"The more hands we have the less time we need."  
Kirk thought, and then turned to Pavel, "Chekov, you go with them, that's at least one more pair of hands." Allie and Pavel exchanged awkward glances. "Is that going to be a problem?"  
"No, sir," they said together.

When they exited the turbolift Allie held Pavel back and let Scotty walk ahead. When he turned back to see where they were she gave him a _look_. He held his hands up in defence and kept moving. Allie turned back to Pavel, and before he could open his mouth she said, "Look, I'm so sorry about what I said earlier. It wasn't my place to say it."  
"It's okay," he replied gently, "I'm sorry zat I didn't know she vas bullying you."  
"I'm not sure I'd call it bullying."  
"Vell, vhatewer you'd call it, I'm sorry."  
"Friends?"  
"Definitely." She held out her hand, and he smiled. "I zink ve can do better zan zat!" He hugged her, and Allie closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like if they were actually together, as she had so many times before. But before she could really imagine it properly he pulled away from her and said, "Come on, ve'd better go and help Scotty."

They had all been working on the warp core for almost an hour when a security team ran into their section of engineering. "What's going on now?" asked Scotty.  
"We've had reports of Khan being down here."  
"There's the answer to how the warp core failed then," said Allie as the security team moved further in the section, and they began to resume work when:  
"_Lieutenant Chekov, please report to security team four at once."  
_Allie looked worriedly at Pavel, but tried to hide her concern by saying, "I guess that security training worked out well for you then – is there any division on the ship you haven't worked in yet? What's the bet that security team four is the one that just came through here?" He smiled, but she could see that he was afraid too. "Don't worry, he'll have moved far away from here by now."  
"At least, if ve do find him, zen ve can all stop being so paranoid."  
"Hopefully."  
He left them in the direction of the security team, and Allie watched him go. Restarting work on the warp core, she didn't notice Scotty watching her. "Will you just tell him already?"  
"What?"  
"You two seem to be the only people who can't see how much you fancy each other."  
Allie nearly dropped the tool she was using. Fumbling with it, she stammered, "I – well – um, I don't… I…" Scotty chuckled.  
"Just hurry up with it will you? Or I'll tell him myself!"  
"_Stand down from red alert. Khan has been apprehended and is currently in the brig. Yellow alert remains, stand down from battle stations," _boomed the intercom.  
"Wow," said Scotty, "That was quite fast. Wonder how they did that?"  
Now it was Allie's turn to chuckle. "I don't know, but I expect it involved a lot of phasers."  
The intercom spoke again, "_Engineering? This is the brig. There's a glitch in one of our cells, and we need it fixing in case any Tellians need confining."  
_"I'll go," sighed Allie, "It'll only take a few minutes anyway, and you're of more use here than I am."


	5. Chapter 5

"Where's the glitch then?" asked Allie as she walked into the brig. From the corner of her eye she could see Khan looking at her, emotionless, unmoving. She ignored him.  
"Over here," said the ensign on duty. Aside from them and Khan there was no-one else in the brig. Allie didn't like this, the mere thought of being alone with Khan again terrified her, but she wasn't about to let him know that. "There's a problem with the glass, shield, thing… in cell four," the ensign continued.  
"The glass, shield, thing?" replied Allie with a small smile. "Not been on the job long then?"  
"No, it's my first week."  
"Big responsibility, looking after our guest here." She chanced a look at Khan, who looked vaguely amused. Looking back at the ensign, she saw the worry in his face. "You'll be fine," she said reassuringly. "He can't cause any trouble from there, can he?"  
The ensign shook his head and said, "Thanks," although he didn't look any less worried.

Allie slipped off her heels, she was so sick of wearing them. The ensign looked at her, puzzled. "They're impossible to walk in," she explained, and walked over to cell four, ignoring Khan's eyes watching her again as she walked passed him. She began to work on the cell, easy work, but engaging enough that she could put the man in the next cell out of her mind.  
After about ten minutes she heard the intercom, "_Ensign Leopold to deck six please. Extra security required around the ambassador_." The ensign whimpered. Allie looked at him again; he was even more panicked than before.  
"Isn't there supposed to be someone here on duty with you?" she asked.  
"Yes, but they never showed up. It's just been me here all day."  
"You know, you are allowed to get someone over the intercom to go and find them. For now, you go, I'll watch him until someone else turns up."  
Mumbling thanks, the ensign acknowledged the summons and left. Allie watched him go, sighed, and then resumed work on the cell.

She was just about to finish when the next cell's occupant suddenly spoke, making her jump. "You can't stand being alone with me. Why did you send him away?" She didn't want to answer and had no intention of doing so, so she was certainly surprised when she heard her own voice replying.  
"Why should I be bothered by you? You're in a cell. I'm not."  
"Because I frighten you. I can see it. You're tense, nervous. You want to be anywhere else on this ship right now." He still sounded amused. Allie ignored him again. Focusing on the job at hand would block him out.  
Except she was finished.  
No-one else had arrived and she couldn't leave Khan unsupervised. She went over to the intercom to ask for some security officers. She pushed the correct button, and nothing happened. Communications were down. "Fantastic," she muttered under her breath. She replaced the few tools that she had used, and moved to Khan's cell. She didn't really know why. Maybe because, if she could look him in the eyes, she could stop being afraid of him. Maybe. As she looked at him she became strangely aware of the fact that she was still wearing a skirt, that she hadn't had time to change.

Khan's eyes met hers, and for a while their eyes were locked, and Allie felt like she was falling, falling through all of the years that Khan had seen, all of the experiences, the emotions. His eyes were sad, they had seen the deaths of thousands, some caused by him, some not. Eyes that had seen triumph and failure so many times over.  
"We are no different, you and I," he said quietly, in a voice that reflected what his eyes had seen. "We are alone, alone in a universe that is filled with people who do not understand us. Desperately seeking anyone with whom we can connect. Why do you think that it was you who I came to on Earth? I could see it, in the way you stood, the way you spoke. I can see it now. All your life you have been alone, the people who were supposed to love you pushing you away. When you thought you had found the person who could save you from your isolation, you found that even he didn't understand. He still doesn't. You are alone, Allie. Alone, except for me. I know the pain. I had the only people I truly knew and loved taken from me, people who depended on me, and now I do not even know whether they are dead or alive."  
Allie wanted desperately to eliminate the force field, to comfort him, she really felt like they were somehow connected. She managed to restrain herself, until she looked at him again to see that he was crying.  
That did it.  
She deactivated the force field, again not really aware that she was doing so. She ran to him and put her arms around him, she needed to let him know that she did understand. She didn't have time to register the movement before Khan had grabbed her arms, spun her around, put one arm around her waist and the other hand on her throat, pinning her close to him.  
'I am so stupid,' she thought. 'Of course he was only trying to escape. How could I be so blind?'


	6. Chapter 6

"That was much easier than I thought it would be," Khan whispered in her ear, "Perhaps I overestimated you." He walked her forward to the security desk and took a phaser with the hand that had been on her throat. "It's interesting that you aren't struggling," he said.  
"Well, there's no point, is there?" she replied, "With your superhuman strength or whatever it is, I won't be able to get away from you. Why waste energy that I might need later?"  
"Good, good. There's the intelligence that I expected. Now, do I need to point this phaser at your head, or will you just walk?"  
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather walk." He didn't remove his arm from her waist, but at least she was in slightly less danger. He directed them out of the brig and turned right, towards engineering. She suspected that he was heading for a transporter room.

They passed no-one as they moved through the corridors, everyone was busy and no-one had time to be idle. Allie was terrified, but she had no intention of letting Khan know that. She was glad that they hadn't encountered any crew members yet, Khan was bound to kill them instantly, or at the least, severely injure them. What worried her most was the knowledge that Pavel was around here somewhere, and she couldn't bear it if he got hurt, especially if it was because of her. Khan hadn't spoken since they had left the brig, and Allie couldn't decide if she found his voice or the silence more frightening.

They were near a transporter room when they came across a group of security officers. Allie's worst fears were realised; Pavel was with them.  
"Allie!" He cried. Khan moved so quickly that is was impossible to keep up with him. Security didn't stand a chance. He threw Allie against a bulkhead, dazing her. Then he moved to the nearest security officer and slammed his fist into his head while killing the other with the phaser. Pavel darted towards Khan and managed to rid him of his phaser while he was distracted by the final security officer, who he finished off with a boot to the skull. Pavel hesitated briefly and looked and Allie. It only took Khan a second to shove him to the floor and put his hands around his head. Allie knew what that meant, he was going to use his strength to literally crush Pavel's head.  
"No!" she half screamed. She couldn't do anything to physically stop him, she was nowhere near strong enough. All she could do was beg. "Not him, please. Please don't hurt him." She felt the tears on her face. They were both looking at her.  
Khan smiled, turned back to Pavel and said, "Lucky boy." He removed his hands from his head, and Allie sighed in relied. Then Khan suddenly struck Pavel and he collapsed unconscious. Allie cried out again, and Khan returned to her, pulled her to her feet and started moving. Allie wrenched her arm free and walked freely, there was no point in resisting.

When they reached the transporter room Khan went straight to the console and incapacitated the transporter chief. Allie couldn't understand why no more security teams had found them yet, she couldn't believe that no-one had found them yet. Khan moved her onto the transporter pas. When they re-materialised they were on the bridge of a strange-looking ship. "How can we be on a ship? There were no other ships in this sector," Allie said.  
"Do you think that that the Klingons are the only people with cloaking devices?" Khan replied. "Now, if you would kindly step over there."  
"Why?"  
"I need to contact your captain, and I would appreciate it if your presence here would remain our little secret for the time being." Allie did as he asked, she would save any attempt at escape for a time when it had a better chance of succeeding. Khan operated the communications console and then moved to the centre of the bridge.


	7. Chapter 7

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk was worried. He had had to send pretty much all of the security officers on the ship to control the uprising of the Tellians against the ambassador and his party, and now inter-ship communications were down, so Kirk had no way to monitor that situation. Or the prisoner in the brig. He was about to ask Uhura to send another message to Starfleet when she said, "Sir, we're being hailed."  
Kirk started. "I thought there were no other ships in this area."  
"None on our sensors, Captain," said Spock.  
Kirk shrugged and sais, "Onscreen, lieutenant." Kirk, along with the entire bridge crew, was stunned to see Khan on the screen.  
"_Hello again, Captain. Sorry to disturb at this troubling time, but I required a word with you_."  
"How the hell did you get off my ship?" asked Kirk incredulously. "You were supposed to be under guard at all times."  
Khan replied simply, the smile never leaving his face, "_That is irrelevant right now, Captain. Worry not though, I shall tell you soon_."  
"What do you want, Khan?" asked Kirk, trying to hide the strong surge of rage and fear that he felt.  
"_Another thing that is of no concern to you currently."_  
"Stop playing games, Khan, what do you want?"  
"_Presently? I merely wished to inform you of the fact that I was no longer in your brig. I thought you would benefit from that information_." Khan's smile was still there.  
"I would also benefit from knowing how you escaped."  
"_True. True. Very well, Captain. I escaped with a little help from a member of your crew_."  
Kirk was stunned again. "My crew? Who? Who helped you?"

Khan turned to look at someone off screen. A number of the bridge crew, including Kirk, gasped as they saw Lieutenant Swallow step into view. "_Me, sir_," she said, clearly trying to hide her fear and sorrow from Khan.  
"Allie, what…" was all Kirk could say.  
"_Don't take it out on her, Captain_," said Khan, "_It's only fair to tell you that I did trick her into it, she'd never have helped me intentionally_."  
"_I'm sorry, Captain, I didn't –_ " Allie was cut off by Khan.  
"_I'm afraid we must cease talking for now, Captain. But rest assure that we will have another little chat soon enough."_  
Kirk said quickly, "Khan, don't hurt – " but the view screen cut out. Kirk wasted no time; he turned to Uhura and said, "Uhura, work on getting ship communications back up, and try and locate the security video from the brig – I want to know how he tricked her. I'll be in engineering, contact me as soon as you can."

When Kirk reached engineering he found Scotty still working on the warp drive. "Captain, do you have any idea where Lieutenant Swallow is? She went to fix something in the brig an hour ago, a job that should have only taken her twenty minutes at the most, I need her here."  
"Scotty, how long will it take for you to fix the warp drive? We may need to get away from here as soon as possible."  
"At least an hour, sir. Why? What's happened?"  
"Scotty, Khan's escaped." Scotty's mouth fell open.  
"Well that's just brilliant, isn't it," he said sarcastically.  
Kirk continued, "He's got Allie."  
"Oh God."  
Kirk spoke quickly, time was short. "I know. We need to get her back and repair the warp core as quickly as we can, we need to get out of here."  
"Aye, sir."  
"And have you seen Chekov? We need him on the bridge."  
"He was working on the warp core with me, then he sort of disappeared. I didn't have time to find him, he might have got caught up in that Tellian mess. Security teams were all over here an hour ago, chased them up two decks."

They began to move through engineering. Somewhere near transporter room four they came across an unconscious Chekov surrounded by three dead security officers. "Oh God," Scotty said again. Kirk knelt by Chekov and gently shook his shoulders. The young man groaned and opened his eyes. He looked vaguely confused, then clarity dawned on him, and a look of panic came into his eyes.  
"Sir! Khan, he killed ze officers, he took Allie!"  
"I know. We need to get her back, and I need you on the bridge, are you up to it?"  
"Yes, sir," replied Chekov.  
"_Uhura to Kirk," _said the intercom, "_Communications back online, sir, although still not word from Starfleet. I have also located the security footage you asked for._"  
"Good work, Lieutenant," responded Kirk as he helped Chekov to his feet. "On my way to the bridge."


	8. Chapter 8

When Khan had deactivated the view screen he immediately moved to a console on the opposite side of the bridge, leaving Allie in the centre. "What, exactly, was the point of that?" she asked. "Why did you bother contacting them if you weren't going to demand anything, demand your crew?"  
Without turning to her, Khan replied, "That particular tactic has failed the last two times I have tried it. Currently I have no means of finding out where the leaders of Section 31 are, and so I need a new means of locating my people."  
"Why do you need me?"  
"You aided me in getting off of the _Enterprise_."  
"But you took me with you. You don't really need a hostage – you could do enough damage without threatening me. Why didn't you leave me on the ship?" She hesitated. "Or just kill me?"  
Khan laughed. "So many questions, Lieutenant. Be patient, you shall have your answers soon. As will your captain."  
Allie glanced around the bridge of the mysterious ship while Khan resumed using the console. She didn't think about what he might be doing, she didn't want to. The bridge was dark in colour, with simple instruments, it didn't appear to be as highly technical as the _Enterprise_, although Allie doubted that that was the case. In fact, it closely resembled the _USS Vengeance_ that Khan had crashed into Starfleet headquarters.  
"I must admit," said Khan after a while, "I was surprised that you didn't recognise me on Earth."  
"I did, just not at first."  
"No, you recognised my name. Why didn't you recognise my face?"  
"I was in engineering the last time we encountered you. I never saw your face."  
"And Starfleet never bothered to educate its officers on this 'notorious' terrorist?" He seemed amused again.  
"I suppose they didn't think they'd need to."  
"Not very prepared, are they?"  
Allie looked back at him, she found it very difficult to meet his eyes, yet she was drawn to them all the same. "Look, will you just tell me what you're going to do with me?"  
Khan sighed, "I suppose so. Your constant asking will become quite irritating I'm sure. All that I require from you is that you tell me the codes that all bridge officers know that will unlock – somewhat classified – information that will tell me the location of my crew."  
Allie blinked a few times. "Well, that's not going to happen." Khan raised an eyebrow. "For one thing," she continued, "What will you do when you've found them? Take revenge on Starfleet? Or just continue your work to erradiacte every being who you deem inferior?"  
Khan laughed again, "Yes, I think both of those are likely to happen."  
"Then why do you seem so sure that I'm going to help you?"  
"I really don't want to resort to clichés, but – "  
"There's no point in threatening me," she interrupted, "I won't sacrifice thousands of lives just to save my own."  
"Of course you wouldn't. No, I have no intention of threatening you. However, back on the _Enterprise_, you rather showed your hand." Allie looked confused. "That boy who you begged me not to hurt."  
She couldn't speak. It felt like everything was closing in around her. "Oh God, no. Please. No…"

On the bridge of the _Enterprise _Captain Kirk studied the security video of Allie and Khan in the brig. He was desperately worried about her, as he knew Chekov was as well. He couldn't believe that something as stupid as a crew mix up could have resulted in her being alone with that maniac. He watched the footage along with the rest of the bridge crew.  
_"You are alone, Allie. Alone, except for me. I know the pain. I had the only people I truly knew and loved taken from me, people who depended on me, and now I do not even know whether they are dead or alive." She pauses for a moment, then deactivates the force field and embraces him. He grabs her, appears to whisper in her ear, takes a phaser, and then they leave the brig.  
_"Vat heppened, Keptin? Vhy did she go to him?" said Chekov, in a voice that sounded somewhat… hollow.  
Kirk paused, and looked to Spock, he didn't quite know how to respond. "He appealed to her humanity," said Spock. There was a silence.  
"Captain," Uhura said quietly, "Khan is hailing us."  
Another pause. "Onscreen." All heads turned in the direction of the view screen. "What now, Khan?"  
_"I'm afraid I need to borrow one of your officers_."  
"What? Borrow? What do you mean?" Kirk was confused again.  
"_Please, Khan, don't. Not him, you spared him once before, please don't hurt him now!" _came Allie's voice from off screen.  
Chekov stood up, "Allie!" he cried.  
Khan smiled, "_Ah, that one in particular," _he said, and the view screen was terminated. Then, just like that, Chekov was beamed off the bridge.

Pavel materialised a few feet in front of Allie, and she took a step towards him, but Khan raised a phaser, pointed at Pavel's head. She stopped dead in her tracks. "I'm sure the situation is clear to you, but in case your intelligence has failed you again I shall explain: if you do not input the codes I require, I will kill him."  
"Don't do it, Allie, I'm not vorth it," Pavel said, straight away.  
"Oh, I think you are. To her." Khan said, his evil smile still lurking on his face.  
Allie fought to restrain her tears, "Please, don't ask this of me. I can't make this decision."  
"You do not have a choice. Decide. Starfleet? Or him?"  
"You are asking me to destroy all that Starfleet has worked for."  
"I am asking you to save his life." Another long pause. Suddenly, Khan spoke again. "Do you love him?"  
Her head snapped up. "I, I don't have to answer – "  
"Do you love him?" Khan repeated, the threat and malice entering his voice. Allie knew that she did, in fact, have to answer.  
"Yes," she whispered, barely audible.  
"Pardon?" he said, amused for yet another time.  
"Yes," she repeated, louder this time. She looked Pavel in the eye and told him what she'd wanted to tell him for months now. "Yes, I love him."  
"So how can you not choose him?" Khan said, finality in his voice.

Allie looked between them, and dropped any disguise of fear, sadness and horror that she had put on before. The tears finally fell as she looked between her love and her captor.  
This wasn't like the Kobyashi Maru.  
This scenario truly was unwinnable.


	9. Chapter 9

**Eighteen months ago**

Allie sat outside the testing room. The cadets that were to form her crew for this test had just entered the room, leaving her alone. She was due in at any moment. She knew what to expect, but she was still frightened. It was very unusual for a cadet who wasn't on the command path to take the test, but she had been recommended for it. An instructor motioned for her to enter. The set up perfectly resembled a star ship bridge. She sat in the captain's chair. It felt… strange. Good, but strange. The cadets watched her, and the buzzer sounded, signifying the start of the Kobyashi Maru test.

"Captain, we have received a distress call from the _Kobyashi Maru_. The ship has lost power and is stranded." Allie took a deep breath.  
Turning to the Science Officer, Irina Galliulin, she said, " Where is the ship located?"  
With a smirk, Irina replied, "In ze neutral zone."  
"Brilliant," Allie muttered. "Set an intercept course."  
The helmsman complied with her order, and within minutes they arrived at the simulated coordinates to see the _USS Kobyashi Maru_ adrift. "Hail them," Allie directed to the Communications Officer. "This is the _USS Enterprise. _Captain Allie Swallow in command, we need to beam your survivors over immediately."  
"No response, Captain."  
"Try again."  
"Keptin, zere are three Klingon ships on our zensors," said Irina, the smirk still lingering on her face. She was clearly relishing the fact that Allie would fail the test, everyone did.  
"… Okay. Hail them."  
"No response from the Klingons or the _Kobyashi Maru_."  
Allie wasn't prepared for this, she hadn't been told about the Klingons, although she had guessed they would make an appearance when the Neutral Zone was mentioned.

She sat in the chair and thought for a minute or two. Everyone on the bridge watched her. Then she thought of something new. Something she hadn't thought of before. It was incredibly risky, but then again, everything she could do would be. "Okay, tell the Klingons that I am beaming over to their ship in order to discuss our surrender," she said to Irina, who was her First Officer. "As soon as I am on that ship you beam the survivors over and get the hell out of here."  
"But Captain," began the Communications Officer.  
"They'll kill me, I know." She took a deep breath. "But hopefully, they'll be preoccupied enough with me to give you enough time to rescue the _Kobyashi Maru_ crew and leave here. You do not wait for me, you leave as soon as they are on the ship."  
Without waiting for a response she turned and left the bridge. The simulation continued beyond it, so she entered a turbolift and waited to reach engineering. Even though she knew she wasn't really going to die, she considered what it would be like if she was. She wondered what she'd think of. Definitely not her parents. Maybe her friends, but she didn't have too many. She thought about how lonely she really was, and how much she couldn't wait to get on a star ship, find people she could feel comfortable with. She felt tears form in her eyes, but knowing that she was still being monitored by cameras so the examiners could still see her, she stopped them falling. Instead she thought about how wonderful it would be to get away from Irina. On reaching the transporter room, she instructed the Transporter Chief to beam her over, the Klingons had temporarily lowered their shields. They were expecting her.

The simulation finished there. She was escorted back to the bridge, where she watched the examiners debate. She couldn't actually hear them, but she was a pretty good lip reader, and one of them definitely said, "She did it. My God, she actually did it."


	10. Chapter 10

Allie stood by the console, motionless. "You can't make me betray Starfleet," she said.  
"Yes I can," replied Khan, coolly. "You must choose now. Shall I kill him, or will you just type the code in for me?"  
She couldn't speak. Either she could destroy everything that Starfleet had built, just by simply typing in a code, or she could let the man she loved die. It was impossible. She looked at Pavel, the tears still rolling down her cheeks. At least he knew that she loved him now, she hoped that this would make him feel better.  
She had made her choice.  
"I'm sorry," she said, very quietly. "I'm so sorry, Pavel."  
He smiled, and said weakly, "Vell done. Good choice." Now it was he who faced the unwinnable scenario.  
Khan looked at the two of them, and Allie moved away from the console. "I can't. I won't do it. I won't give you the codes." His face fell.  
"I should have known." He pulled Pavel to his feet. Allie couldn't watch, but she couldn't look away. She just stared at them both, praying for a different ending. Khan raised his phaser. It was really happening, she couldn't do anything to stop it.  
"Please, there has to be another choice," she said. Khan was silent.  
Her eyes found Pavel's, and he mouthed, "I love you," and suddenly everything was that tiny little bit better, she hadn't been wrong – he did feel the same. Their tears fell together, and both knew that the shot was imminent.  
It never came.  
Instead Khan stepped to the transporter console and activated it, and Allie watched Pavel transport away.

Turning to Khan she began to speak, but was silenced. "He may still be of use to me, just because you didn't choose him this time doesn't mean you won't the next."  
"Where is he?!" she demanded, almost hysterically.  
"Calm down, Lieutenant. I assure you that he is alive, and he is safe."

Suddenly the ship was rocked by a phaser blast. Allie supposed it must have come from the _Enterprise,_ but they weren't anywhere near powerful enough to break Khan's shields. "What was that?" she shouted as the ship was hit by a second blast.  
Khan jumped to the science console. Performing a scan of the _Enterprise _he replied in a frenzy, "They've re-routed their phasers through the warp core!"  
"So that they have far more power, oh that's clever," she said, but Khan ignored her. He crossed to yet another console, and Allie suddenly saw an opportunity, possibly her only opportunity, for an escape. She waited for a third, fourth, fifth phaser blast to ensure that Khan was properly distracted, and then she darted into the turbolift when his back was turned.

Khan was occupied with re-enforcing his shields. He couldn't believe that the enemy ship had actually been able to combat him. He hadn't seen this coming. He turned, preparing to move to the tactical station. He surveyed the bridge. Aside from him, it was empty. He bellowed in anger, how had this happened? He hadn't even heard her leave. Leaping over to the other side of the bridge he operated the sensors and located her. She was ten decks below, in engineering. Quickly, he set the computer to focus power on defending the ship, he was no longer concerned with the destruction of the _Enterprise_, and ran to the turbolift. He would catch her.

Allie ran. She ran faster than she could remember ever running before. She was certainly glad that she had taken off her shoes back in the brig of the Enterprise. She had absolutely no idea where she was (although from the look of the stations and corridors she passed, she could assume that it was engineering) or how she could find Pavel and get them both off of the ship. She just knew that she didn't want Khan to find her, and she knew that he was faster, smarter, stronger than her. She didn't think she could evade him again if he caught her. She heard footsteps behind her. Very fast footsteps. Adrenaline surged inside her. She couldn't outrun him if he was this close. But she had another option. Looking up she saw that the engineering section of this ship closely resembled that of the _Enterprise_. It was constructed with pipes and walkways running through many decks above it. Taking a running jump she grabbed hold of a thin pipe and used it to climb up onto a much thicker one. She heard Khan's footsteps getting louder. He was very close; she hoped the pipe was thick enough to hide her from view. The footsteps got very, very loud and then stopped. 'He must be directly below me,' she thought. She held her breath to ensure that she didn't make any noise.

For a few agonisingly tense moments Allie lay on the pipe with her hand over her mouth and her eyes shut. She hoped, she prayed that she would hear the footsteps again, that Khan would move away. It wasn't just her life that depended on this plan working, it was Pavel's as well. She had nearly been responsible for his death once already today, and she wasn't about to let him die because of her now. Then, slowly, the footsteps began again. As they sped up they got louder, but then they began to fade as Khan got further away from her. Allie waited until she couldn't hear the footsteps at all before she breathed again. Without hesitating she began to climb up through engineering, swinging off of pipes, scaling walkways, jumping, hauling until she reached a deck that was much higher than where she had been. She was grateful once again that she had no shoes on, and she hoped that Khan wouldn't have time to think about using the sensors to find her.

On reaching the first computer panel she found Allie said, "Computer, how many human life forms are on this ship?" The computer answered in its traditional toneless voice.  
"There are three human life forms aboard this ship."  
"Where are they?" The monitor flashed up a map of the ship, and Allie identified the life forms that corresponded to her and Khan (that one was obvious as it kept moving) and then found the third, which she prayed was Pavel. It was in the brig. She supposed she probably should have figured that out herself. Before she did anything else she made a quick scan of the ship, she wanted to find something, anything that could be of use if she even managed to rescue Pavel, they needed to get off the ship as quickly and quietly as they could. Examining the lower decks of engineering, lower than where she had been, she noticed something very interesting, that might just come in handy. She found her way to the brig and when she reached it she was thankful that Khan hadn't recovered his crew – she wouldn't have to deal with anyone in her way. She quickly examined each cell. A warm feeling of relief spread over her when she saw Pavel and saw that he was unhurt, and she immediately crossed to him and deactivated his cell. He barely had time to say her name before she'd flung her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder. For a minute the just stood like that, locked in an embrace that neither wanted to break. Eventually she pulled away from him, but only for a moment, so that she could reach up and press her lips against his as she'd dreamed of doing for months. He returned the kiss, and she felt that all the old clichés were blending into one another; the cell seemed to dissolve around them, it felt like they were the only two beings in the universe, she forgot about Khan, about the _Enterprise, _about everything.

When they finally stepped back from one another Pavel began to say, "Allie, vat's - "  
She cut him off and said, "I'll explain later, no time now." She grabbed his hand and led him out of the brig at a run. As the moved through the corridor Pavel finally managed to speak.  
"Vhere are ve going?"  
"I scanned the ship. Several decks below us, in engineering, there's a section of the ship that has incredibly thick bulkheads, made out of something weird. I've never seen anything like it before, the sensors couldn't penetrate it. I think it must be where Khan was going to put his crew before he woke them up, if he found them, so that no Federation ship would be able to locate them, let alone beam them off the ship," she replied, slightly out of breath as they ran to a turbolift. She had no clue as to where Khan was, she was still hoping he wouldn't scan for them or stop the turbolift. As they stood in the turbolift they made eye contact for a few seconds, before Allie dropped her eyes, feeling a bit awkward.  
"So, the kiss?" said Pavel.  
"Um, yes, well. Sorry about that."  
"Don't be!" he said with a grin, and then he kissed her quickly before the doors slid open. "Lead the way," he beckoned.  
She slipped out of the lift and looked left and right, making sure Khan wasn't waiting for them. Seeing that the coast was clear she took Pavel's hand again and they moved down the corridor, turning left and right several times. Allie wasn't one hundred percent sure whether they were going the right way but she didn't have time to check.

When they had been on the go for another ten minutes they reached a door that blocked off a whole section. Opening the door, Allie saw they the secure section was just a large hanger, completely empty. They walked inside. "Vat do ve do now?" Pavel asked her.  
"Actually, I didn't think this far ahead. I figured we'd have been stopped by now. We need to contact the _Enterprise_, but we can't transmit through these bulkheads and we don't have any communicators anyway."  
"I don't know vat to do either. Are you sure you don't have any ideas?"  
She thought for a while. "Maybe, maybe we could use one of these computer interfaces to contact the ship but we'd have to massively boost the power somehow. How did you boost the phasers on the _Enterprise_ to cut through the shields?"  
His face lit up as he realised what she was getting at. "Ve ran them zrough ze varp core!"  
"Let's hope that we can do that from here," she said as she crossed to the nearest panel. They played with the computer for a bit until they finally managed to reroute the communications relay through the warp core. "I have absolutely no idea how we did that," said Allie with a grin.  
"I zink zat it was eazier because ze communications are zimpler zan ze phazers."  
"I think that's it's unlikely that Khan won't notice that. We'd better contact the _Enterprise _immediately." She fiddled with the monitor again. "Swallow to _Enterprise. _Can you hear us?"

_"Affirmative, Lieutenant. Where are you?" _It was Jim's voice.  
"In a hanger on Khan's ship. You can't break through the bulkheads with the transporter. They're too thick."_  
"Currently we cannot even locate the ship, it is cloaked," _said Mr Spock.  
"We might be able to send you a distress signal when we leave this hanger, but we run the risk of Khan finding us. He probably already knows we're in here."  
"_It's the only way to get you out. Are you and Chekov there, or are you alone?" _asked the Captain._  
_"Ve're both here, zir," replied Pavel.  
_"Good, send the signal the second you exit the hanger and we'll beam you out."  
_"Affirmative, Captain. Swallow out." She terminated the communication. "We'll have to send the signal from out there, obviously it won't get through here." They walked to the hanger door that they had entered through. Before they walked through it, Allie kissed Pavel again and said, "In case he's waiting out there, in case something else happens, I love you."  
He kissed her back and said, "Я тоже тебя люблю."  
She smiled and then paused. "I have no idea what that means," she admitted.  
"It means, 'I love you too'."

They held hands again, took a deep breath and then opened the door. To their relief Khan wasn't there. "He can't be far away, there's nowhere else we could be on the ship," said Allie. There was a computer interface panel opposite them, and they managed to send a distress signal from it with relative ease, it was more simple than rerouting the communications. Jim's voice came through the panel speakers.  
"_Okay, we found you."  
_Scotty's voice cut in, "_His shields are down, we hit him hard enough with the phasers to cut them off. __Beaming you aboard." _Allie and Pavel smiled again and looked at each other as they felt the transport begin.  
Without any warning, Khan suddenly burst through the hanger doors and grabbed Allie's arm, pulling her inside the hanger. Before the doors slammed shut Allie heard Pavel yell out her name before he was beamed away, and she felt the transporter stop affecting her as she was pulled behind the thick bulkheads.


	11. Chapter 11

Before she had time to think Khan slammed his fist into her face, and, taken by surprise, she was knocked onto the hanger floor. A kick followed the punch, which was followed by another kick. She tried her best to block his attacks but she was at a huge disadvantage; the surprise hadn't yet worn off, and with his superior strength there wasn't much she could have done even if she had all her wits about her. Grabbing the neck of her uniform Khan pulled her to her feet and pushed her against the wall. Allie managed to dodge one or two of the punches he threw towards her, but he was just too quick, one caught her again, sending her reeling back towards the wall. She could taste blood in her mouth and there was definitely some running down her face from where her head had hit the bulkhead. He took her by the throat and lifted her off of her feet, so that their eyes were on the same level. She scratched at his hands, but his grip was so tight that he was strangling her. She struggled as hard as she could, but the lack of oxygen caught up with her and she couldn't hold her arms up anymore.

Khan moved closer, enjoying how she still struggled, despite knowing that she was powerless in his hands. Before she succumbed to the oxygen deficiency he released her throat, and drew back his hands as she dropped to the floor. On her hands and knees she coughed a few times, trying to get her breath back. Her right arm collapsed under her and she fell onto her side, half sitting, half lying. Her eyes began to close. Khan leant down to her and pulled her upright. He put his lips to her ear and whispered, "Never, ever test me. It will not end well for you." He hurled her to the ground once more and watched as her strength left her. Her arms buckled, and she lay there, completely still, eyes closed.

He checked her pulse and breathing. It would be most inconvenient if he had killed her, so he was pleased to find that she was alive. He tossed her over his shoulder and made his way back to the bridge. Dropping her on the floor he performed a quick scan of the _Enterprise_ to check that the warp drive was still offline. Seeing that it was, he then moved to the helm and set a course for a planet several light years away. Confident that the _Enterprise_ wouldn't be able to follow for a few hours at least, Khan instructed the ship to depart at warp eight.

Kirk watched as Khan's ship suddenly became visable to them. It dropped it's cloak but before Kirk could give any order to scan for Allie's life sign it warped away. He was very thankful that Chekov was being checked out by McCoy at that moment so that he wouldn't be panicking any more than he already was. Kirk turned to Spock and said, "Track his warp core signature. As soon as the warp drive is fixed I want to find him." He then turned to Sulu, "For the meantime, head for star base nine on impulse power." Both officers nodded to show they understood their orders. "Uhura?"  
"Yes, Captain?" her faced showed as much worry for Allie as Kirk felt.  
"Contact Starfleet. Tell them I'm going to take the Tellian ambassador, his party and the rebels to the nearest star base, where I will leave them. No arguments. I'm not letting him get away with kidnapping a member of my crew."  
"Aye, sir."  
Kirk thumbed a button on his chair to contact engineering. "Scotty?"  
"_Sir, before you ask it will take exactly four hours for us to fix the warp drive, now that we've actually located the problem, however, you don't have four hours, so I'll do it for you in two."  
_"Scotty, I love you," Kirk replied. "Kirk out."

When the ship reached its destination, Khan walked over to where he had dropped Allie and picked her up. He didn't bother cloaking the ship, if the _Enterprise _scanned the planet they would see where he was anyway. He made his way to the transporter room with Allie in his arms, and when he arrived he programmed the transporter to beam them down to the planet.

Having left the Tellians on star base nine (with only a small argument breaking out – the _Enterprise's _security teams combined with those of star base nine had been able to enforce Captain Kirk's orders fairly easily) the _Enterprise _finally had its warp capabilities back, and were proceeding to where Khan's warp signature finished. They found themselves at a, formerly uncharted, fairly bleak looking planet, and the sensors confirmed it was just that. Bleak. Their sensors also showed that there were only two life forms on the planet, both of which were in some sort of structure, the only building of any kind on the surface. Kirk needed no time at all to make his next decision. "Spock, McCoy, we're beaming down. No security team, it'll be harder to notice us if there are only three."  
Chekov (who had been released from medical with Bones saying, "He's fine. He's always fine. I don't know why you bothered sending him down here." Kirk had ignored him) turned in his seat, "Keptin, I – "  
Kirk cut him off, "I know you want to find her, but Khan tried to use you against her before, and I don't want to put either of you in that position again. Do you understand?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"We will find her, I promise you."  
Chekov managed a weak smile, and Kirk turned and walked into the turbolift, accompanied by Spock and McCoy. "And what do you intend to do when we get down there?" exclaimed McCoy. "Find her and then get killed by him? Or will we just die the second we've beamed down?"  
Spock answered him, "Our sensors showed that there is no security system used by the building that the life signs are emanating from. As that is the only building and it contains only two life signs on the planet it is unlikely that we will meet any threat other than Khan himself."  
"We don't need to meet any threat other than Khan. He's enough for me, thank you very much." Bones turned to Kirk and said, "What are you going to do when we run into him, it's inevitable that we will."  
"I don't know, Bones. We've got phasers, we stun him on sight? Or we kill him? But Starfleet still want him alive, he could still be of use to them."  
"But if it's his life against ours, against hers…" He trailed off.  
There was a long pause. When the doors opened the three of them made their way to the transporter room in silence. Scotty met them there. "I can beam you next to the compound but it's made out of the same stuff as that hanger on his ship, so I can't transport through it. I've no idea how the sensors could get through it," he said when he saw them. "Once you're inside you're on your own – we can't do anything to the communicators to make them cut through the material, and it's too dangerous to run transporter circuits through the warp core; God knows what it would do to them, or to you."  
"Okay, Scotty. We'll get in and out as quickly as possible, and we'll contact you when we're outside, when we're ready to beam back."  
"Are you sure you don't want a security team?"  
"He'll just kill them, I don't want to risk anymore lives than necessary."  
Kirk, Spock and McCoy took their places on the transporter pad. Scotty operated the controls and Kirk gave a small smile as a goodbye, knowing that the possibility of him never seeing either Scotty or the _Enterprise _again was very real.


	12. Chapter 12

They found no immediate danger around them when they materialised on the surface. They were directly next to the door to the compound, which was black, with no windows, and no other visable door inside. Kirk took out his phaser and said, "Set to stun, if we can avoid killing him we need to." Spock and McCoy nodded and adjusted their phasers. Kirk was pleased to see that there was no security panel, requiring anything from a retinal scan to a simple code to open the door. There was just a button. He pressed it gingerly. The door slid open silently to reveal a white hallway with one or two doors leading off of it. They stepped inside, paused, listened for any alert or alarm, and then proceeded down the hallway at a fast walk. They checked each room to see if Allie was there. Kirk assumed that she would be in some sort of holding cell, he wondered what on Earth it was that Khan wanted her for. He didn't really want to think about it. As Scotty had told them, their communicators didn't function and they couldn't contact the ship. However, as they had on the _Enterprise_, the scanners on their tricorders were still working. Spock scanned for life signs.  
"There is one life sign approximately fifty metres in that direction," he pointed in front of them, to a door at the end of the hall. They ran to it and opened it. Beyond them stretched another hallway, identical to the first. "The life sign is coming from the room on the right," said Spock. Kirk approached the door that Spock was referencing and saw that this one did have a security panel next to it.  
"Can you use the tricorder to open the door?" he asked Spock. Spock stood in front of the panel and employed his tricorder. After about five minutes he typed in a code. The panel beeped and the door opened. "That seemed easy," said Bones.  
"Too easy," said Kirk. "Why bother setting a code when it only takes a tricorder to crack it?"

On entering the room, Kirk saw that it was a completely white laboratory. He turned to Spock and said, "This must be where Khan was planning to bring his crew. They could create anything in this room alone. I dread to think what's in the other rooms." He took another look around the room, "I thought you said the life form was in here."  
"It is, Captain. According to the tricorder, it is two metres to the right of our current position."  
"Jim!" said Bones as another door slid open next to him, to the right of him and Spock.  
"What did you do?"  
"I think I just leant against a button." They entered the, far smaller, room. In the centre, there was a raised platform, lying on which, still in her dress uniform, was Allie. Jim and Bones rushed to her side while Spock examined some of the machines that surrounded her.  
"What's wrong with her?" said Jim as McCoy scanned her with his medical tricorder.  
"Nothing that I can detect," replied Bones.  
"Then why is she unconscious?"  
"Honestly? I think she's just asleep."  
"Can you wake her up?"  
"Yeah," Bones pressed a hypospray to Allie's neck, and two seconds later her eyelids flickered upwards.

When Allie opened her eyes the first thing she saw was a plain white ceiling. Her head felt heavy, and she couldn't remember much. Flicking her eyes to the right she saw Jim and Bones leaning over her. "Captain? What's going on? Where am I?" she asked in a faint voice.  
"Truth is," answered Jim, "We don't actually know. We're in a building on an uncharted planet."  
"A building? Nice to know you've done your research!" she joked.  
McCoy chuckled, "Good to see you've still got your sense of humour." Allie's head began to clear and the events that happened on Khan's ship returned to her.  
"Is Pavel alright?" she said, slightly panicked.  
Jim patted her shoulder and said, "He's fine. He's at his normal station on the bridge." She smiled and sat up slowly.  
"You okay?" asked McCoy, "Do you feel sick or dizzy?"  
She shook her head. "No, in fact I feel… fine. Completely fine. I don't even feel tired or hungry."  
"You? Not hungry? That's a first," said Jim, jovially.  
"How rude," she replied. Jim turned to Spock, who was still poking around all the machines that lined the room and the platform.  
"Any idea what they're for, or what they do?" he said. Spock looked up from his tricorder.  
"Negative, Captain. None appear to be in use currently, although many show signs of having been used very recently. There are no machines of these types in Starfleet records." Allie hopped off of the platform and smoothed out her uniform.  
"I really hate this thing."  
"Where are your shoes?" Jim asked in a mildly confused voice.  
"Well, they're, sort of, in the brig on the _Enterprise_."  
"I don't even want to know why."

They exited the laboratory room and paced back down the corridor with Spock leading the way. Allie didn't recognise any of her surroundings. "What do you remember?" Jim asked. "Have you been here before?"  
"No, I don't think so. But then again, it is a white corridor, it's not exactly uncommon."  
"You don't remember being on the planet's surface then?"  
"The last thing I remember is Khan pulling me back into the hanger when we were beaming out. He hit me, I tried to fight back but he was too strong. He… he…" she rubbed her throat gently. "I couldn't breathe, but then he let go and I blacked out." She had to fight tears again, she hated the idea of crying, it always made her feel weak. And she couldn't afford to be weak. Especially when Khan was involved. Jim looked at her and, seeing her trying not to cry, he hugged her. It was nice, it made her feel better, made her feel safe. She supposed it felt like a hug from an older brother. Spock directed the four of them to the door at the end of the hallway and they went through it. On the other side was another hallway, which to Allie looked to be identical to the one they had just left, but Spock, Bones and Jim seemed not to be bothered by this, so she assumed they were going the right way. They had just reached the door at the far side of that corridor when all the lights went off.  
"What's happening now?" said Bones in an anxious tone.  
"I do not know," responded Spock. Some dim, emergency lighting came on, just enough that they could see each other, but not much else. Jim pressed the button next to the door.  
It didn't open.  
"Dammit!" murmured Jim.

Out of the blue, they heard a deep, baritone voice. All four of them recognised it as Khan's. Allie supposed it was coming over a loudspeaker.  
"_Congratulations, Captain. I see you managed to track us and infiltrate my laboratory."  
_Jim answered him, "It didn't take much infiltration. There was only one lock we had to get through."  
"_Well, I didn't think you'd be able to repair your warp drive without returning to Earth, or at least spending sometime at a star base. I really should stop underestimating average humans. It has come back to bite me several times now. No matter though, your rescue of Miss Swallow is not too much of an interruption for me at this point. I should warn you to be wary though. There's been rumours of a strange illness circulating on this planet."  
_"Rumours and circulation between two people?"  
Khan laughed. Allie was petrified, she couldn't stand these games and riddles that he used. "_Would you like to know the symptoms?" _He didn't wait for an answer. "_They first thing experienced is a strong headache, resulting in dizziness." _Allie suddenly became aware of a pounding in her head, and she felt like the room around her was spinning. She blinked hard a few times and tried to ignore it, it was probably just autosuggestion. Khan continued, "_Following this dizziness there is a weakness of the limbs, often leading to collapse." _Allie tried her best to disregard what he'd said, but she could feel her knees shaking. She leant against the wall and hoped that Jim and the others were too preoccupied with Khan to notice her. She told herself that she was just being silly. "_Next, the victim undergoes a loss of vision," _she had a strong feeling of terror now as her vision clouded over.  
"Jim," she whispered. He didn't hear her over Khan's next description.  
"_Finally, they suffer a shortness of breath, very quickly followed by a complete shutdown of their cardiovascular system." _Allie was really panicking now. She couldn't breath, she couldn't breath at all. She could barely whisper Jim's name again, but she still wasn't heard. It took Khan saying, "_Are you all right, Miss Swallow. You're looking a little pale," _before anyone turned to look at her. Allie still couldn't see anything, but she felt Jim's hands on her arms before she collapsed.

McCoy watched in horror as Allie fell backwards. Jim was behind her and so he broke her fall and guided her to the floor. Instantly he moved to her side and said, "Move," to Jim – any and all formalities towards his Captain had gone out of the window. He pulled out his tricorder and performed a quick medical scan. "My God," he said, "Jim, her heart's just stopped."  
Jim stood up and said, "Haven't you done enough to her, Khan?"  
"_Oh dear, I did warn you of the… illness, did I not?"  
_McCoy reached into his medical kit and pulled out a portable respirator and defibrillator. "Spock, come and help me." Obligingly, Spock knelt by Allie's other side and looked to McCoy for instruction. He activated the respirator and handed it to Spock. "Hold it over her mouth and remove it each time I count to five." He did so. Her chest began to rise, but the tricorder showed no sign of a heartbeat. McCoy now set up the defibrillator and placed it onto Allie's chest, over her heart. "One, two, three, four, five." McCoy watched as Spock lifted the respirator, then he pushed the button on the defibrillator. Allie's whole body lurched and shook as a current was sent through it. Still no heart beat. Needing no cue, Spock replaced the respirator and McCoy glanced quickly at Jim, who was using Spock's tricorder to try and open the door. McCoy counted to five a second time, and he and Spock went through the defibrillation process again.  
Khan's voice came over the speaker again. "_Oh, I apologise, Captain, I forgot to unlock the door._" McCoy saw Jim step back as the door opened.  
"Why are you playing games, Khan?" said Jim, "What do you want her dead for?"  
"_You don't yet understand, Kirk. I never said I wanted her dead." _Then the speaker went dead and all the lights came back on. Spock and McCoy had to repeat the defibrillation procedure twice more, but eventually they managed to restart Allie's heart.  
"We've got a pulse," said McCoy to Jim, "But she's still not breathing without the respirator. We need to get her back on the ship." He took the respirator off Spock and adjusted it as quickly as he could, at the moment she couldn't survive long without it. "Spock, lift her, will you." Spock slipped his arms under her body and lifted her with ease. McCoy continued to hold the respirator over her mouth, and the three of them left the building. As soon as they were outside, Jim flipped open his communicator.  
"Scotty, beam us out of here now, and have a medical team on standby in the transporter room."


	13. Chapter 13

**Seven years ago**

It was raining. She didn't know why she was disappointed. It was England. It was always raining. She snuggled down underneath her blanket, hoping to get a few more moments of peace before it started. "GET UP!" Fat chance. Before they could shout anymore she pulled herself out of bed. At only eleven years old, she bore the majority of the responsibility for taking care of her family. Not because her family required full time care, they were just too busy with their own lives to bother with things like cooking or cleaning. Getting dressed in the old, scruffy hand-me-down clothes that she always wore she went downstairs and began her everyday tasks. She made breakfast and laid it out on the table, always making sure that she was out of the dining room before her mother, father or sister entered it. That always ended in trouble. If she spoke to them, she'd inevitably face a stream of insults from her sister, Katherine, or a set of extra orders from her mother. The majority of the time her father would ignore her, but if she did something that he deemed to be wrong, or rude, or ignorant, she was sure to be on the end of his fist.

As she was about to leave the dining hall, she noticed a drawer in one of the side cabinets was open. She approached it, curiosity getting the better of her. That drawer was always locked. Her parents had forbidden her from trying to open it, they said it had very important information in it that would get her in trouble if she knew it. Being so young, Allie had always believed them and kept away from that drawer. But now it was open. So why shouldn't she look? When she reached it she opened it fully. Looking inside, she saw that the drawer contained only a single data pad. She supposed that the 'important information' was all on there. Funny. She'd expected it to be written in fancy handwriting in leather bound books, like in the stories she loved to read late at night from the books she had taken off Katherine's shelf when she wasn't in the house (she never read them, but if she'd found Allie taking her things she'd have thrown a fit, and Allie would have been punished).

She switched on the data pad, it had no lock, no code. The second she read the first piece of 'important information' Allie felt like she'd been punched in the stomach by someone who was very angry with her. What she was reading was a letter to her from her grandmother. Her grandmother who she hadn't seen in over five years. The last time they'd met had ended badly when her mother and her grandmother had an enormous row, Allie never found out what it was really about, her mother had only ever said, "She doesn't like you, we were fighting over you." This had always puzzled Allie, as her grandmother had always been lovely to her, she gave her sweets and occasionally managed to give her a book, when her parents weren't looking . What she was reading was definitely a shock.

_Dear Allie,  
I'm sorry that I can't come and see you anymore, but your parents have forbidden it. No matter what they tell you I want you to know that I love you very much, and your mother won't let me see you because I told her that the way they treat you is appalling, and that I wanted you to come and live with me. There's so much about yourself, about your life, that you don't know. That's why I've sent you this pad for your birthday, I sincerely hope that your parents don't intercept it, it should be delivered directly to you, they shouldn't be able to touch it._

_A few weeks ago I was talking to my friends about you, and how clever you are even though you've never been to school. One of my friends thought this was odd, though I explained how your mum and dad had decided to home-school you. She did some digging, to see if she could find out about schools that would take a student who had never been in a school environment ("A child should learn with other children," she said to me). She gave a few names and I made some inquisitions, I thought it would be better for you and easier for your parents. Naturally the schools said they would accept you, but they laughed me out of the room and called me a 'time-waster' when they looked at your records. Because there aren't any records._

_Allie, I'm so sorry to tell you this, especially in a letter, but you don't exist. Officially, according to all records, you don't exist. You have no birth certificate, no medical records, there's no record of your parents agreeing to home-school you. As soon as I found out I came to see your parents and demanded to know why this was the case. The only answer I got from them was, "We already had Katherine, we didn't need another one." When I asked why they kept you – not that I want you to be got rid off, I'd have gladly raised you – your mother told me that the abortion process can cause a women to gain an awful lot of weight, more than pregnancy, so she refused it. I do not understand how my daughter could value her looks over a child's happiness. She told me that it was easier to just have you to help with housework than have you adopted, so when you were old enough to walk and work, they got rid of the nanny, who they bribed with credits to never mention your existence, and used you as a slave._

_I informed your parents that I wanted to take you away from them to live with me, I assumed that they would welcome this so they wouldn't have to feed you and clothe you or be responsible for you. I promise you that I wanted this so badly, I wanted to look after you and spoil you and treat you the way you deserve, because you are the most wonderful and intelligent little girl I have ever know. But they refused. They said you were too useful to give away, and when I said I would report them, they threatened to harm you, and I could never let that happen._

_I'm sure you already know from the way they treat you that your parents are horrible people. They are not normal parents, and, no matter what they say, you do not deserve the work they make you do and the punishments they give. There is someone who loves you and who cares about you, I will always think about you and I hope that you do not hate me for leaving you with them. I think you can reply to my letters, I can't work out how, but I'm sure you're clever enough to find out! I would absolutely love to hear from you, I need to know that you are alright, and that you are not too unhappy. You can also use this pad to learn things about, well, about anything. I know you like fixing things, so maybe you could learn more about engineering? Maybe you have a Starfleet career ahead of you!_

_I love you so much, Allie. You are the most wonderful granddaughter I could ask for. If you ever need me to come and take you away from your parents I will, just tell me and wait for me at the end of your street, get out of the house when your mum and dad are away or asleep, so they can't stop you._

_Please don't ever forget how much I love you.  
Your grandmother._

When Allie finished the letter she became aware of tears glistening down her cheeks. Her grandmother did love her, and her parents had been happy to treat her like their own personal Cinderella, all the while pretending that she didn't exist. No wonder they never bought friends round, they would have found out about her. She was about to start a reply when, "Oh. My. God." It was Katherine.  
"No, please don't tell them, Katherine, please! They'll kill me!" It was no use.  
"MUM! She's opened the drawer!" Katherine blocked the door so Allie couldn't leave. She could hear her parents footsteps running down the hall.  
"You little bitch," said her mother, wrenching the pad out of Allie's hands, she was too stunned to fight back. Her father entered the room. "I said it was stupid to keep it," her mother said to him. "I knew it wouldn't help us stop mum telling the authorities." Her father was silent.  
"How could you?" she managed to whisper. "You pretended I didn't exist, you lied about my grandmother, you used me as a slave while pretending I was never born?!" Her voice had risen to a shout. Her father approached her. Allie fell silent as his icy stare bore into her. But she wouldn't look away. She would stare him down for once. He raised his hand. The slap was so brutal that it sent her flying into the cabinet. It made all his other slaps over the years seem tame. Her head hit the side, and everything went black.

When Allie woke up, the room was empty. Looking out the window, she saw that both hover cars were gone. The time was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon. Her father would be at work. Her mother would have taken her sister to a dance class. They had left her, alone, unconscious. They really didn't care. She stood up carefully, she didn't want to pass out again. Across the room, on the floor, was the data pad. It had been stamped on. Although not smashed, the backing had fallen off and the wires had been removed, clearly her father had pulled them out. She picked it up. She could fix it. She knew she could.

Two hours later Allie was still sitting in the dining room. She needed to be able to hear when her parents returned. They would know she'd taken it if it wasn't lying on the floor. She had to finish before they were home. It had taken her a while to even start repairing the pad, but using trial and error, she was fairly sure it would work this time. Crossing her fingers, she switched it on. It worked! Managing not to shout in happiness she instantly picked it up and left the house. She didn't care about alerting the authorities, she knew who she wanted to tell. She hid in the bushes at the end of the road, no-one would see her there.

_Dear granny (I hope you don't mind me calling you that),_

_I'm sorry that I never wrote back, but mother and father hid the pad. I'd never seen it until today. I'm hiding in the bushes at the end of my street, where you told to wait. Please come and get me, I need to run away from my parents, I'm not safe at home. Please come. Please hurry._

_Love Allie._

Five minutes after she had sent that message, she heard a transporter beam. She hid further in the bushes. She watched through the leaves. She recognised the person who had materialised. She crawled out. The woman smiled. "Of course I don't mind you calling me 'Granny'!" Allie ran to her and her granny embraced her, holding her close. Allie couldn't help it, she began to cry. "It's alright, darling. Everything will be alright now. I'm here, nothing will harm you."

Allie felt the transport start, taking her away from the hell she had lived in for eleven years.


	14. Chapter 14

As soon as the transport had completed Spock and McCoy moved Allie onto the anti-gravity stretcher that the medical team had prepared. McCoy handed the respirator over to one of the nurses and began to asses the rest of her condition as they moved her out of the transporter room and towards the medical bay. Kirk followed them out, on his way to the bridge. "What's wrong with her, sir?" asked Scotty who was on his heels, as was Spock.  
"We don't know," Kirk answered, "But something caused her heart to stop. Bones restarted it, but she's still not breathing properly."  
"Bastard," said Scotty, clearly in reference to Khan. Kirk nodded his agreement as he stepped into the turbolift and thumbed the button for the bridge. When he reached it he didn't hesitate to take command off of Mr Sulu.  
"Mr Sulu, have we been able to locate Khan's ship?"  
"Affirmative, sir. But we can't do anything because his shields are still up. He can beam through them."  
"How did he get that technology?" asked Scotty.  
"How did he get that ship?" retorted Kirk. "It was there waiting for him." Then Jim noticed Chekov looking at him with desperation in his eyes. Of course, he didn't know about Allie yet. "She's… she's alright, she's in sickbay" he said kindly. Chekov smiled in relief. Kirk felt guilty, but he needed Chekov at his station right now, he would tell him the truth later. "If we can't disable his ship we need to stay in a standard orbit, Mr Sulu. Direct main power to our phasers and shields in case he returns and launches an attack."  
"Yes, sir," replied Sulu as he complied with Kirk's order. Kirk leant back in his chair and pondered what to do next. He couldn't beam Khan off of the planet while he was in that building, and he couldn't destroy the structure and destroy and 'asset' to Starfleet. He knew what his gut was telling him to do – to flee. To order the _Enterprise _to head for Earth or at least a faraway star base and leave Khan and all the danger he posed behind. But he couldn't do that. That was the coward's way out.  
"Or the sensible man's way out," he muttered to himself, unheard by any of the bridge crew.

When an hour of inactivity from Khan had passed, Kirk decided he needed to check up on Bones' progress, on Allie's progress. Which he couldn't easily do without alerting Chekov. Kirk took a deep breath. "Mr Chekov?"  
"Yes, Keptin?"  
"Would you accompany me to sickbay, please?" Chekov nodded, understanding Kirk's reason. When they were in the turbolift, away from the prying eyes and ears of the rest of the bridge, Kirk took another deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, Pavel, but I, er, I lied earlier." The younger man looked confused. "About Allie's condition." Worry immediately set into Chekov's face. "She's not alright?" he asked warily.  
"No, she's not. When we were on the planet, she stopped breathing, and, um…" Kirk faltered, he detested giving bad news, especially about people he cared about. "Her heart stopped." Before Chekov could really react, Kirk continued, "She's alive, Doctor McCoy revived her, but as far as I know she's still not breathing on her own." The lift doors glided open and Chekov instantly set off towards the medical bay, without waiting for Kirk's lead or permission. Kirk didn't expect him too.

Chekov had to fight the urge to run to sickbay. All that was running through his mind was making sure nothing happened to Allie. He couldn't lose her now. He was only barely aware of Captain Kirk pacing along behind him. As he reached the sickbay he turned right through the door, and his eyes locked onto one bed at the end of the room. Allie was lying on it, totally motionless. He tentatively walked over to her. "Is she – vill she be alright?" he asked Doctor McCoy.  
The doctor smiled warmly, "I think so, her hearts not showing any signs of problems or failure, it hasn't actually been damaged at all, and I've managed to stabilise her breathing; she doesn't need the respirator anymore. She's still unconscious, but that's because she's physically exhausted, and she probably is mentally too." Suddenly one of the surrounding machines started beeping, "Oh God, what now?!" asked McCoy, more to the machine than to Chekov or Kirk.  
"Bones? What's happening?" asked Kirk.  
"Technically, nothing. I can't detect anything. But there's something doing… something to her." Chekov tried to block the rest of sickbay out; he stood by Allie's bed and held her hand.  
"Vake up, Allie, please," he said quietly, he didn't want the Captain or the Doctor to overhear. "Please, I don't know vat to do, how do I help you?" He gently pressed his lips to her hand and turned back to the Doctor, who was still examining the beeping machine. McCoy circled to face Kirk and Chekov.  
"What have you found?" inquired Kirk.  
McCoy paused, and looked at Chekov with an apologetic expression on his face. "I've found something. I looked at her scan results from just ten minutes ago, and the ones from now. Something is literally changing her."  
"Vat? Vat's changing her? Vat's being changed?"  
"Something, and I have no idea what, is literally rewriting her body. Her DNA, it's being altered somehow."  
Kirk cut in, "You don't think Khan's done something, if it's her DNA being altered, is he somehow augmenting her?"  
"I don't know. I hope not. I don't see how though, as it wasn't affecting her when we found her, unless it was made to happen after a delay. But what would be the point it that?"  
"I'm going to get Spock down here, you two should be able to figure out what's happening, and hopefully find a cure."

When the Captain, Mr Spock and Doctor McCoy had retired to McCoy's office Chekov stayed with Allie. He sat beside her bed and slipped his hand into hers. It was warm, too warm. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, he'd loved her for so long, although he'd only just realised it. He didn't want to think about what would happen if she had been enhanced. He didn't know if she'd be able to take it – to his knowledge no experiments had been done on genetic engineering since the Eugenics Wars – would it kill her? And why would Khan have done that to her? It didn't make sense, Chekov couldn't see how that would help him find his crew. His attention was drawn straight back to Allie as she stirred, and muttered his name softly, "Pavel?"  
"I'm here, it's me, Allie," he replied, just as softly. He stroked her cheek with the hand that wasn't in hers and her eyelids opened slowly. "How are you feeling?"  
"Like I've gone ten rounds with a Klingon," she groaned. "Is it actually possible for someone's head to hurt this much?"  
He grinned. Though anyone else might think of her response as a bad sign, he knew her sense of humour well, she was alright. "As dramatic as alvays! It vould be you who gets kidnapped, zreatened, beaten and has a heart attack, yet survives all of it."  
"I think I'm allowed to be dramatic about that – I am far too accident prone."  
"To put it mildly!" Chekov was really happy to see her face break open in a smile. After a small pause, he said, "Allie, I'm so sorry zat I left you on zat ship with zat – " She cut him off.  
"Don't. Don't do that. Don't apologise for something that was not, in any way, shape or form, your fault. You were beamed away and I wasn't. You didn't leave me behind."  
"I know, but I should have tried to get back to you."  
"You'd only have gotten yourself killed," she pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked him in the eyes properly. "You did the right thing. And besides, there's no way that the Captain would have let you beam back over anyway!"  
"Zat's true," he replied, the smile returning to his lips. He leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers, very gently.  
"What was that for?" she asked when he pulled back.  
"Because you're alive, and you're beautiful, and because I love you."  
She blushed. "I love you too."  
"How long have you felt like, vell, like zis?" he inquired, he felt like they had missed a lot by not confessing their feelings sooner, and he wanted to make up for that.  
"I'm not sure really. A long time, six months... longer..."  
"Vhy didn't you say anyzing?"  
"You were with Irina, I didn't want to ruin what you two had. Even if she was a massive bitch," she added as an afterthought. He gave her a look of slight disapproval. "Oh come on. She was!"  
He gave in. "Fair enough. She vas, a bit."  
"A lot." He laughed heartily.

Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and Doctor McCoy joined them after about ten minutes of discussion. "We haven't come up with any theories or solutions yet," said the Captain, "But we're not giving up."  
"Why? What's wrong with me?" Allie asked, trying (unsuccessfully) to hide her concern. She knew that something wasn't quite right, she felt different, but she had been through so much already that she had tried to ignore it before.  
"We don't know. But it's something. I need to get back to the bridge, but Spock is going to continue work with the Doctor to figure this out. Chekov, if you don't mind it would be useful if you could return to the bridge as well."  
"Affirmative, sir."  
Doctor McCoy spoke up. "Okay, Allie, we need to run various physical, mental and psychological tests if that's not too much trouble."  
Allie smirked at him, "Be gentle with me, Doctor."  
Bones muttered something that sounded very much like, "Damn teenagers."  
"Vill you be alright?" asked Pavel. He had to return to his station, but he was still reluctant to do so.  
"I'll be fine, I'm in very capable hands." He didn't move. "Pavel, go. You'll be in the way here, and you heard Jim's orders." He still didn't move, so she kissed him softly and then pushed him back. "Go. Now. No arguments." He turned to leave and took a few steps, then turned back and gave her a good long kiss, before swivelling around and marching from the room.  
Allie was fairly sure she heard Bones say, "Finally."


	15. Chapter 15

"Six hundred and seventy four multiplied by eighty three?"  
"Fifty-five thousand, nine hundred and forty two."  
A pause, followed by, "Correct. The square root of two hundred and twenty three?"  
"Fourteen point nine three." Another pause.  
"Correct. In a quadratic equation, if a equals 9, b equals three and c equals negative eleven, what is the value of – "  
"Nought point nine five or one point two eight."  
Spock paused for a third time as he checked the answer on the screen in front of him. "Correct again."  
Bones joined in, "She got all of those questions right?!"  
"Indeed, without any hesitation." Spock replied.  
"How did you work those out so quickly?" Bones asked Allie.  
She shrugged. "I just worked them out. In my head. You have to be good at maths when you're an engineer."  
"Yeah, I know, but that was amazing, I've never seen anything like it!"  
Allie looked away. "I've never been able to do it before." Spock and McCoy exchanged glances. "What? What's happening to me?"  
"Physical tests next," said Bones, sidestepping her question.

Allie stood in the centre of a holodeck, with Spock and Doctor McCoy standing to the side, observing. "Right, what's going to happen again?" she asked them, the nerves creeping into her tone.  
"We are going to test your physical… prowess through some hand-to-hand combat exercises," Spock responded. "When we activate the programme you will face seven highly skilled adversaries. I and Doctor McCoy will observe you and note how skilfully and how long it takes for you to defeat them."  
"You mean _if _I defeat them. I'm going to die!"  
"The safety protocols are engaged. You'll be fine," Bones reassured her. "Are you ready?"  
"No."  
"Tough. Computer, start programme."  
Seven figures appeared, circling Allie. They were made up of a human, a Klingon, a Vulcan, a Romulan, an Andorian and a Cardassian. Allie's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "Computer, freeze programme." The aliens stopped moving. Allie faced Spock and Bones. "Don't you think this is a little one-sided?"  
"We need to see whether your strength, stamina, speed, agility etc have increased as well as your intelligence," said McCoy, "This is a good way to do that. Plus, you might have fun!" Allie glared at him. "Fine. Computer, remove everybody except the Klingon." Allie thought about what he'd said.  
"My physical and mental skills being increased? You don't think that – "  
"Computer, start programme," Spock interrupted. The Klingon instantly started to move again, although for a while he didn't advance on her. He looked at her, determining her weakest point, and the best moment to attack.

Suddenly the Klingon darted forwards. Coming towards her quickly it took a moment for Allie to react, but without really thinking or planning it she dropped to the floor and swiped her leg around in a circle, kicking his legs out from underneath him. He fell to the ground, completely taken aback. As was Allie. It took about five seconds for the Klingon to strike again. He attempted a similar trick to Allie's, performing a powerful kick at her legs, but she jumped at the last minute, and as she landed she bought her fist down to render the Klingon a heavy blow on the head. Spock and McCoy watched her battle the Klingon, out of the corner of her eye she could see them. They analysed and noted they way she fought, her new-found advances and defences. Once or twice the Klingon appeared to be on top of the fight, but Allie wasn't yet in control of her own strength, and so every blow was powerful enough, every kick was forceful enough to cause the Klingon significant damage. However, Allie had one major problem – everything she did surprised her, so she kept faltering to take in what she'd done. The Klingon used one of these hesitations to his advantage and threw his arms around her chest in an attempt to restrain her. Allie managed to pull her body up and actually flip over his shoulder, surprising her so much that she fell over on landing. The Klingon gave a swift kick to her stomach, severely winding her. He loomed over her and, as he was about to deliver a crushing blow to her head, "End programme." Spock spoke and the Klingon disappeared. "It is evident that you need some practise."  
"I though the safety protocols were supposed to be on," said Allie, examining a cut she had received to her arm.  
"I lied," said McCoy, "A fairer test."  
"Fair? Fair is debatable."  
"Whatever. I need another blood sample."  
Allie held out her arm. "I, I already know what you think it is. Will you just tell me if it's true?" She hated not knowing if she was, if she was…  
"We don't know yet. But we will soon, I promise."

As McCoy ran a blood comparison he grew aware of Spock standing a few metres behind him. "What are you doing here?" he asked grumpily.  
Spock replied in his usual manner. "I am here to inquire as to why you did not begin by comparing these blood samples, as I suggested to you and the Captain."  
McCoy sighed. "I don't know, Spock. Maybe, maybe I just didn't want to know if Khan had done this to her. It's not fair. I think that I just wanted these tests to have a different result."  
Spock raised an eyebrow. This simple reaction was enough to irritate McCoy. "Once again, doctor, you let your emotions control your actions. It is illogical –"  
"Oh yeah, because you've never let your emotions control your actions you green blooded, cold hearted – " McCoy controlled himself.  
Spock opened his mouth to reply when the computer beeped. The comparison had a result. Both of them turned to look at it. "We have our answer," sais Spock, breaking the silence.  
"I'll go tell her," said McCoy regretfully.  
Allie's genetic structure had indeed been altered. Now, it matched Khan's.

A beep showed someone wanted to come in. "Who is it?"  
"It's Jim."  
"Oh. Okay, come in."  
"How are you doing?" asked Jim as he entered Allie's quarters.  
"I'm fine," she replied, her voice a monotone.  
"That's a lie, isn't it?" He sat beside her.  
"… Yes." Her posture sagged as she attempted to hide her face from him. This was a all too much for her. There were too many things happening around her; she could clearly hear the hum of various engineering systems several decks down, there were people talking everywhere, footsteps, orders, machinery, more voices, all of them swirling around her head as her mind tried to keep up with and follow all of them, analyse all of them. All of the lights were brighter, more focused, objects around her were more defined and clear. She could feel her own strength surge through her body as if it were being carried by her blood. It probably was. She felt so different, stronger, faster, more intelligent, more agile. Stronger, faster, more intelligent, more agile. Stronger, faster, more intelligent, more agile. She could feel all of it, all of the changes building inside her body and inside her head.  
"How are you really feeling?" Jim asked her, his concern showing in his face as well as his voice.  
"I feel, oh, I don't know, I feel, I feel like this was all a horrible mistake."  
"What was?"  
"This. Starfleet." He didn't understand her. "Me being in Starfleet. Because of all the futures that I imagined having in Starfleet, this wasn't one of them. Funnily enough I never thought that some madman would completely re-write me for apparently no reason."  
"I'm sure he had a reason."  
"Yeah, well, that's not the point, is it?" Jim smiled apologetically. "I'm too young for this. I'm still a kid really. How am I supposed – what am I supposed to do? I mean I'm not the same person that I was just a few hours ago. He's completely changed me."  
Jim put his arm around her. "You're still you though. He hasn't changed your personality, your morality. You're still the same person."  
She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." She halted. A thousand things ran through her head, and she tried to decide which was the most important. "You know, when I signed up for Starfleet, I knew there were risks, but I thought that being clever and pretending to be brave would keep me safe. I was stupid and arrogant enough to think that I was smart enough to just sail through the Academy and the service."  
"I suppose the whole Kobyashi Maru thing didn't help."  
"No, it didn't. After that I really was the 'perfect' cadet. After that it was all, 'Oh look! It's the perfect cadet who beat the Kobyashi Maru.' 'Who joined the service at only fourteen.' 'Who escaped her abusive parents to become Starfleet's most promising cadet.' Well, the 'most bloody promising cadet' really screwed up this time. I can't believe I was so stupid and weak that I let one of Starfleet's biggest and most dangerous threats escape. I really messed up, Jim."

He took a deep breath and thought about what she'd said. When he responded he said, "Yeah. You did." She looked at him, a bit put out. "Well, you did. I'm not going to lie to you. And I agree that you were way too young. You have to be ready enough. Mature enough. Hell, I was nearly ten years older than you when I joined and I wasn't mature enough. And I paid the price for it. So have you. But do you know what you do? You learn from it. You adapt and you grow. You use this to help people and to do your duty. And speaking of duty, I need to get back to the bridge." Allie laughed. It was undeniable that she felt better. It was difficult to be miserable with Jim around. "Will you be alright?" he asked as they stood up. She thought.  
"Yes. I think so. I'll be fine," she replied.  
"Oh, and you're confined to quarters. You know, for letting Khan out."  
She nodded and said, "Okay," but she couldn't help smiling slightly. Jim returned her smile, turned and left. "I suppose I'll be staying here then," she said to herself. No sooner had she said that when she felt a transporter beam pick her up. If she hadn't been alone, the last thing anyone would have heard of her would be her swearing very loudly as she dematerialised.


	16. Chapter 16

As Allie materialised, she watched Khan swim into focus in front of her. She didn't even give him a chance to speak – before he could open his mouth she smacked him in the jaw, hard. His head moved with the force of the punch, then immediately snapped back to look her in the eye again. "Now, now, what was that for?" She swung again, but this time he caught her arm and rendered her a punch of his own. She reacted in the exact same way that he had. For a while they simply stood and stared at each other. Khan's eyes were a deep, intense blue that appeared to be aglow with intent and purpose. And with glee. Allie could still feel all of the new power inside her, she had to fight to control it. And he knew that. She could read him better now, he was waiting. Waiting for her to move again. She took a second to look at her surroundings, and she realised that she was back on Khan's ship, on the bridge.  
"Why am I here?" she asked, no fear in her voice. She would not give him that satisfaction. "What do you want now? Haven't you done enough to me?"  
He smirked. "I have a proposition for you. I'm sure you want to know why I did this to you. Why it was you in particular." He didn't wait for her to respond. "I know now that I cannot retrieve my crew alone. I have tried and failed too many times. I need help. I need your help. And you have been alone too. Don't you see, Allie? I have rescued you. I have saved you from a life of mediocre solitude in Starfleet, with no-one who really understands you. But I do, and I am here for you. Together we can find my, our family and resume our work to ensure our safety and progress. I will always be here for you if you stay with me, and you will never be alone again." He had drawn closer to her, and now there was next to no distance between them. Allie didn't speak, she couldn't speak. Khan closed the distance between them completely. It took Allie several seconds to realise what he was doing. His lips touched hers. That was when she shoved her knee upwards.

He reeled backwards, bent over. She marched to him and swung her hand upwards, bringing his jaw with it. He was still quick, though. He grabbed her arms and shoved her against the wall, the same as he had done the last time he nearly killed her. "I am still stronger than you," he hissed, " And if you will not help me, I will destroy you and all that you hold dear. I will destroy that ship and take its entire crew with it, including your beloved Captain Kirk. But first, I will beam over that pathetic Russian boy, and I will torture and kill him in front of you, slowly and painfully. Finally I will kill you, even slower and more painfully than the boy." She snapped. Her entire body burned with a cold fury. She slipped out of his hands and underneath his legs. She turned and placed her feet in his back, hard. He staggered to the wall, giving her time to scramble to her feet.

Allie slammed her foot into his stomach. He doubled over. Without pausing she spun around and provided another kick to his head, sending him to the ground. She knelt down and sent her fist flying across his face, once, twice, three times. He coughed and blood ran down his cheek. She grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pulled him upright. "You may still be stronger than me, faster than me, smarter than me, whatever. But, you see, I still don't really know how to control this, so I'm just going to hit you as hard as humanly – no, sorry, not human anymore, thanks to you – I'm going to hit you as hard as I can, no holding back. And I don't care what  
happens to you afterwards. I don't care what Starfleet choose to do with you, just as long as I never have to see you again." Khan tried to overpower her, usually he would have been perfectly capable of this, but he was surprised by her refusal, by her determination. She thrust an elbow into his stomach, the same place that she had kicked before. Their eyes met yet again, and Allie saw something different in his eyes this time, something new. He was frightened. Only slightly, but frightened nonetheless. She forced him to listen again. "I am going to beat you and then hand you over. Not because you kidnapped me, not because you changed me, not even because you threatened the federation. Because you were right. I have been alone ever since I was born, even my grandmother didn't truly know me. And you were right that there is someone who does now understand me, who can and does love me. And it sure as hell isn't you. And I am dammed if I let you take him away from me." She raised her fist and brought it down with all the force she could muster. He retracted at the blow and his head hit the ground, hard. He lay on his side, fighting to keep his eyes open. Allie stood, and drove her foot into his head. "до свидания," was all she said.

She moved to a console immediately, she wasn't going to waste any time, she didn't know how long he'd be down. Without bothering to hail the _Enterprise_ she activated the transporter beam straight from the bridge. She and Khan were beamed directly over to the _Enterprise_. On to the bridge. The entire bridge crew stared at her. "Ah. Probably should have aimed more carefully."  
Jim was the first to speak, although he seemed to be having trouble finding words. "I thought I confined you to quarters!"  
"You did," she replied, "And that's where I intended to stay. This one," she nudged Khan with her foot, "Had other plans."  
"Vat happened?" Pavel came up to her.  
"Oh, you know, the usual. He tried to persuade me to join him and I refused, and then he tried to kill me but he didn't. He threatened you so I beat the crap out of him and then I came back here."  
"Ze usual?" He said with a smile.  
"Whatever. Oh," she added as an afterthought, "And he kissed me."  
"VAT?!"  
"Well that's when I hit him."  
He laughed properly. "You are brilliant." She winked at him, and then grimaced.  
"I guess he hit me there. Ow." He looked really concerned. "Pavel, I'm fine. Really." He enfolded her in a huge hug, which she returned, burying her face in his shoulder. Then she remembered where they were. "Um, Pav, everyone is staring at us."  
"Sorry." He smoothed her hair back from her face. "My genetically engineered girl."  
"Oh. You know about that, then." He nodded. "And… you don't, well, mind?"  
He frowned a little. "Of course I don't, why would I?"  
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't, but, I just, maybe, oh never mind!" She felt like she was forgetting something. She looked at her feet, and remembered, "Hang on a minute, where's Khan?"  
Jim answered. "I had him sent to medical while you two were wrapped up in your own little world. Bones has been preparing something to keep him under control. Why, you don't want to see him again, do you?"

Pavel walked Allie to the medical bay. She was so glad to have him there, she was nervous about talking to Khan, even if there was no way he could harm her, or anyone else. He took her hand. "So, you knocked him unconscious because he zreatened me?" She smiled.  
"Yeah. I'd only just got you back, I wasn't about to lose you again."  
"Well, for a moment I zought I had lost you. When you vere out in sickbay I vas so afraid zat you vere going to die." They had reached sick bay. He stopped walking. Allie stopped too and turned his face to her. She brushed away the single tear that sneaked out of his eye.  
"I am fine. And you are fine and in a moment this will all be over. I'm just going to talk to him for a minute or two, nothing will happen. I promise." She gave him one gentle kiss and turned to the door. She entered the medical bay and walked to Khan's bed without hesitation.  
"Are you sure you want me to wake him up?" asked McCoy.  
"Yes."  
"Absolutely, one hundred percent sure?"  
"Yes, there is a force field as well as four armed guards, and he's not going to trick me a second time," she replied, slightly amused, slightly annoyed.  
"Fine, but I'd rather not be here, he still scares the crap out of me." Bones adjusted a few settings on the bed and then left. Allie watched as the colour returned to Khan's face, and he blinked slowly, unsurely.  
"If you sit, stand or so much as lift a finger that bed will react and you'll be frozen again in a second," she said briskly.  
"Have you come to apologise for knocking me out?"  
"Not unless you are going to apologise for tricking me, abducting me, threatening my boyfriend, strangling me and genetically engineering me… no. I'm not here to apologise," she said without missing a beat.  
"Then why have you bothered to wake me."  
"Because, for some unknown reason, I still feel sorry for you." She couldn't see much of his face, he was still looking at the ceiling, but she thought he looked puzzled.

"You said that you didn't know whether your crew were dead or alive. Well, I know." His head snapped to the side (he was careful not to lift his head off of the bed though) and he looked at her, suddenly completely alert and attentive.  
"How?"  
"I asked the Captain."  
"I'm surprised he told you, I have the feeling that he doesn't like me very much."  
"He didn't want me to tell you. He took some convincing, but I understand how much it must hurt you not to know, and even you don't deserve that, I don't think you do anyway. So, I'm going to tell you, and then you can be frozen again and Starfleet can do what they want with you and I don't have to feel guilty about not telling you."  
"That's… that's very decent of you." She ignored this, she was not going to show him any emotion whatsoever. "Are they alive? Are they alright?"  
She paused, it was more difficult to tell him than she thought it would be. "Yes and no. Excluding you, obviously, eighteen of the original seventy two tubes are functioning, eighteen members of your crew are alive."  
She watched as his head turned back to the ceiling, and she saw him blink back tears as he processed what she had said. A couple of tears spilled over and sneaked down his cheek. He seemed to be having trouble finding words. "… Th – thank you for telling me." She nodded and turned away, walking towards the door; she didn't want to watch him be frozen, but she heard it happen. She walked out of the medical bay. She took Pavel's hand again and led him back towards the turbolift, leaving Khan and the events of the last few days behind them.

_**Translation for 'до свидания' : 'Goodbye'**_


End file.
